Friday Night SmackDown Review - May 31, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Piper Niven and Chelsea Green Attacked WWE Women's Champion Bayley During Nia Jax's Coronation

As I've already said, I honestly don't hate the idea of Jax being Queen of the Ring. She'll play the role well, but I do wonder how WWE intends to keep her busy until she gets her title shot at SummerSlam. Niven and Green attacking Bayley set up the tag team match for later in the night, so although there was nothing out of the ordinary about this segment, it effectively built toward two different title defenses for Bayley that are on the horizon.

Tommaso Ciampa def. WWE Tag Team Champion Austin Theory

It looks like WWE might be headed toward A-Town Down Under vs. #DIY for the WWE Tag Team Championship on the sooner side, but I hope they hold off on the title change until SummerSlam in Cleveland (where Johnny Gargano is from). This was a nice match from these two and Ciampa winning helps the babyfaces build some momentum. Theory and Grayson Waller teasing tension felt like it came out of nowhere, though. They haven't always been on the same page, but the tension has never been consistent.

Andrade def. Apollo Crews

Andrade's first match back in WWE was against Crews on Raw a few months back, and now his first match back on SmackDown since 2019 was against Crews, too. It's easy to forget Crews is still on the roster when he rarely appears. Anyway, this is what it was needed to be, though a little longer than I expected. Legado del Fantasma attempting to recruit Andrade is interesting, though it'll inevitably end in an Andrade vs. Santos Escobar feud and I'm not complaining.

Paul Heyman Confronted Kevin Owens

Owens just can't seem to escape The Bloodline it seems, no matter where he goes or what he does. That said, this was a strong segment. Both he and Heyman delivered excellent promos about The Bloodline with Heyman warning Owens that they're more dangerous than ever before. I don't know what the endgame is with Owens and The Bloodline, but they're doing a commendable job of keeping The Bloodline interesting in Roman Reigns' absence.

The Bloodline (Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa) def. The Street Profits

This marked Loa's WWE in-ring return. Obviously, he previously wrestled as Camacho (alongside Hunico, remember them?) and has last match on WWE TV almost exactly a decade ago. It was cool to see Guerrilas of Destiny in a WWE ring for the first time. It was a pretty straightforward match, but it was decent enough for the time it was allotted. Bloodline winning obviously the right call.

Chelsea Green and Piper Niven def. Naomi and WWE Women's Champion Bayley

This was another basic tag team match, but it was well worked and accomplished what it needed to with the heels going over. What surprised me was Green picking up the win for her team and not Niven, but it was Niven who did a majority of the work and allowed Green to score the pinfall. I assume that means we'll get Naomi vs. Green next week before Niven beats Naomi in two weeks before she challenges Bayley for the WWE Women's Championship at Clash at the Castle. That's how I would book it, anyway.

AJ Styles Attacked WWE World Champion Cody Rhodes

I was really curious how they would handle the Styles storyline coming into this show. It was clear as day that his "retirement" would be a swerve and he'd lay out Rhodes, but the angle was exceptionally executed and the crowd ate it up. I don't know why Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows had to be there since they didn't do anything (not to mention that Styles has been blowing them off for months), but otherwise, this was a terrific way of rekindling their rivalry to set up a rematch for either Clash at the Castle or Money in the Bank.

Overall Show

The highlights of the night were undoubtedly the main event segment and the promo exchange between Owens and Heyman. The rest of the episode didn't reach those same heights, but everything served a purpose and thus I thought it was a solid show on the whole. Clash at the Castle is already coming up quickly (two weeks from Saturday), so it was wise for WWE to set the SmackDown stuff in motion for the pay-per-view on this edition.

SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews